Mamá Is Dying: Save Caño Martín Peña

Jun 11, 2015
9:46 AM

I wanted to take a moment and share the following piece from Bernice Sosa of SofritoForYourSoul.com. You can follow more at #JuntosPorCano.

Please sign the petition

Our Mother is dying. Her veins are clogged with disease that have split, her heart rate is decreasing. She is deathly ill and contagious. Mamá can no longer nurture and her surviving children are dying, slowly. She is in desperate need of a vaccine, so she and her family can recuperate a healthy future.

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The environmental degradation of the Caño Martín Peña (Caño) is a threat to the health and safety of residents living in communities adjacent to San Juan, PR. The residents are being exposed to significant environmental health hazards due to the frequent flooding of untreated wastewater contaminated with fecal content 60 times greater than the Environmental Protection Agency’s water-quality standard. Clogging of the Caño (a 3.75 mile long natural tidal channel) has led to constant flooding of waters filled with fecal matter, contaminating the homes of thousands of children and adults, causing high rates of gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin diseases, dengue fever and chikungunya. No human being should live in this situation and, yet, over 26,000 are suffering.

Please sign the petition

The vaccine: the environmental restoration of the Caño Martín Peña, through its dredging and channelization, will help protect critical infrastructure for Puerto Rico, and will provide new opportunities for economic development, tourism and ecological restoration in addition to social justice. Mamá is depending on us. All of us. The future of her children, our childre, is non-existent without our action.

Help us speak up for the 26,000 people whose cries have gone unheard.

Please sign the petition

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This year the Sofrito Media Group/Capicu Culture organizations dedicate their participation in the National Puerto Rican Day Parade to the environmental issues plaguing our isla. #‎boricuasonline #‎juntosporcano ‪#‎prparade